AN1 - Set in late Season Six or very early Season Seven. Also, I'm stealing a bit of Abbey's backstory from "I've Got Your Back, You've Got Mine," which if you haven't read, is amaze balls and you should go read that. Suffice to say by Season Six Abbey's son Michael is four, and not in this story.
AN2 - I apoligize for the delay in updates, and the brevity of this one. Real life, blah blah, etc etc. I had started this in the before, and now in the after it's just fighting me, so I finished it to what I could.
Chapter Four: Fisherman's Helper - (Abbey)
"Ok Nicky, I'm at your grandfathers office, I'm gonna let you go. I'll talk to you later, I love you." Abbey could hear the end of the phone conversation as Erin Reagan got off the elevator and walked towards her father's office. It was Friday evening, and Abbey was almost ready to leave, as was her boss. Erin's arrival meant it was about time for them all to leave.
"Hey, Abbey!" Erin greeted as she approached the desk. In the over a decade that Abbey had worked with the PC, both as his assistant when he was Chief of Staff, and now as PC, Abbey had gotten to know the Reagan family well. In some ways it was part of her job to make sure she knew the pieces of her bosses life, but really, the family had the tendency to swallow in people who were in the periphery of their lives. It was a long known poorly kept secret that most of the Reagans had their partners over to the house once in a while, and certainly Abbey had been at more of the family gatherings that she would ever had expected if she was working for someone else.
"Erin, how are you!?" Abbey greeted the taller woman.
"I'm good. Ready for this week to be over, honestly. You?"
"I'm ready for the week to be over, but ...", Abbey paused, not wanting to admit this, but she didn't have a lot of mom friends, mostly due to the nature of where she spent her days. "Brian and Michael are both gone for the weekend. First time Michael is going on the Delucia Men's Camping Trip." She sighed for a moment. "I had been so excited thinking about all the time I would finally have to myself, but now I'm..."
"...afraid of the empty house?" Erin finished, a knowing tone to her voice.
Abbey nodded. "Pretty much."
"After Nicky first left for school, I'm pretty sure I spent twenty more hours a week at work, just to avoid going home to the empty apartment."
"I guess I just thought I'd be more excited. This is my first time alone since Michael was born."
Erin nodded, tilting her head. "Why don't you come over Sunday? Grandpa is making his famous meatloaf that feeds fifty. Save you from having to mess with cooking for yourself, and we'll have you home in time for the boys to get back."
"I ...uhhh ...I'd hate to intrude on the PC."
Erin laughed. "Oh please, the only thing you might intrude on is Danny hoarding the meatloaf. Ever since Eddie swiped the last pork chop from under his nose a few months ago, he's become very possessive of the meat platter." Erin said, heading towards her father's office, pausing at the door. "So you'll come?"
Abbey sighed. "Well, I can't not come to see that, can I?" Erin and her traded smiles as Erin went into the office.
Inside, Frank Reagan sat on his couch, his body reclined and his head covered by one of his arms. The past week had been a long one, and he was ready to escape it, starting with a nice dinner with his daughter. But first...
"Did you ask her?"
"Yes, Dad." Erin sat in the chair to Frank's right, patting his knee as he sat up. "And you were right, she sounds like she could use a bit of company this weekend. But how did you know she was so upset about it. It's not like Abbey to whine, much less to you."
Frank stood up, swooping into his suit coat as he looked at Erin and smiled. "I'm the Police Commissioner, sweetie. I know everything."
Erin rolled her eyes as the pair made their way to the door. "I can't believe I walked into that one."
"Linda," Abbey asked as the bowls and plates were settling down from the first passing, "you have to give me this potato salad recipie, it's amazing."
Henry looks down at his salad, forking at the contents. "Looks the same to me."
Abbey pauses, giving Linda a look from between Nicki and Jamie. Linda just shrugged with a knowing grin. "I'll email it to you, Danny found it on a Pinterest page last week."
Several pieces of silverware screeched on the china as Linda's words echoed around the room. Slowly all eyes turned to said Daniel Reagan, who himself was paused mid-chew with his head down, peering around the table from under his eyebrows. Frank leaned forwards on his elbows, his own eyebrows up and centered with amusement. Erin and Jaime both shared a genetic smile not unlike sharks in chummed water as they waited for the right moment to pounce.
Danny leans into his wife, whispering "I thought that was supposed to be between us, babe?"
"Why, Danny?" Erin answered for Linda. "There's no shame in some recreational Pintrest."
"Yeah, Danny. Have you found the perfect wedding dress yet?" Jamie asked, years of sibling timing coming to play.
Danny grinned at his brother. "Yeah kid, I found a great one. I shared it with Janko."
The color that rose up Jaime's neck was all the acknowledgement Danny needed that his barb had hit home.
"Well, I don't get what's wrong with Uncle Danny using Pinterest. There is a lot of great stuff on there." Nicky replied, picking at her broccoli.
"That's because you're a girl." Sean replied from across the table.
Laughter from around the table at Sean's remark finally gave Danny the escape he was looking for.
"So Abbey, how's the school search going?" Erin started after a minute.
Abbey rolled her eyes, taking a moment to eat a string bean to gather her thoughts. "It's been tough, a lot tougher than I'd have thought. There are so many pre-K programs, and most of the ones we really like are not quite on the way to work. We had liked our new place because of how accessible it was for schools in the area, but now it's just too many choices!"
"I know we really were happy with St. Ann's when Jack and Sean were young." Linda said, gesturing to her boys next to her who perked at the mention of their old school.
Turning to her dinner table neighbor, Abbey addressed Nickie. "So Nickey, how's university life treating you? I know I really loved my time at Columbia."
"It's been great. I've learned so much, and had such great experiences." Nikki paled for a second. "Even some of the not fun experiences have been educational." Nikki looked down the table to her grandfather, a shared smile between the two.
"Detective Baker, did you used to be a real detective like my dad before you started working for Granpa?" Sean asked.
Linda and Danny both hissed rebukes to the confused boy as several other shared smiles at his question.
"Sean," his grandfather started, leaning in and gesturing towards Abbey. "Detective Baker is a real detective. She's pretty much run the place off and on for a few years now."
Baker rolls her eyes at that. "I don't think that's true, sir." Turning to Sean, she smiles as she starts. "To answer your question, Sean, yes I was a detective a long time ago before your Grandfather asked me to work for him."
Nikki chimed in, "Do you miss it?"
Abbey paused, sharing a look with her boss. "No." A silent beat before she plates some more beans for herself. "After I was injured, I didn't know if I could emotionally return to the job again once I was released, and I had submitted my resignation. Your grandfather talked me into working for him instead."
"Where would Francis be without the heavy hitter hiding in the shadows?" Henry jibed in, a crooked grin on his face.
"I'm sure he'd be right where he is now, sir." Abbey replied, a slight blush hiding behind her grin.
"Perhaps," Frank adds, "but I'd be very lost without you, Baker."
"Maybe if I had a Baker, my L-T wouldn't be so far up my butt about paperwork." Danny suggested.
His father smirked knowingly at him. "You think paperwork is what Lt. Foster finds most annoying about you?"
Danny smirked, his reply coming as Jamie interrupted, "Oh boy, here we go..."
His smirk a touch deflated as he wasted a second to glance at his kid brother, Danny kept going. "Well, WE know it isn't my fabulous close rate, right Baker?"
Baker laughed, holding her hands up in surrender, drawing laughter with her reply. "I'm not stepping in the middle of Reagan crossfire, Danny."
"So where does Brian's family camp, Abbey?" Henry asked after the ribbing on Danny finally died down.
"Cranberry Lake, in the Adirondacks. It's very rustic, no motors and lots of fishing." She smiles softly, "Brian's been really looking forward to taking Michael for the first time. When Michael was still a baby, he started really talking about the first times his father took him up."
"How come we had to wait until we were thirteen to go camping, Pop?" Jack asked Henry.
"Because that's how my grandfather did it, and we've kept it that way since then." Henry pauses, taking a sip of wine. "Every family does these things different, boys, and that's why every family is special."
Linda handed Abby a glass, who promptly dried and put away, ready to recieve the next part of the dishes that were almost done.
"You know the nice part about just the three of us, so many fewer dishes." Abby mused as she put away the last glass and shut the cabinet.
"Yeah, I don't know how Mary did it when Frank and the kids were all so young." Linda replied, shaking her head.
"Oh please, Mom and Dad use made Danny and Me do them every night." Erin added from the kitchen table, where she and Jamie were playing a game of checkers and having a glass of whiskey.
"Never were the two of them so happy as when Mom said Joe and I were old enough to help." Sharing a knowing look with Erin, Jamie continues, "Which to their minds meant that Joe and I had to do all the dishes, but still share the dishes allowance with them."
Erin feigned shock, pointing a finger at her younger brother. "That's not true, we had to make sure you two actually cleaned the dishes!" She brusquely moved one of her checkers, saying "King me!" with far more force than would be normal outside of the Reagan household.
Abbey smiled, watching the siblings interacting. Linda watching her, nudged her slightly. "What, you've never watched the rats eat each other?"
Abbey laughed, taking the plate offered by Linda. "No, I was just thinking. I grew up an only child, and all my friends made it sound so horrible to have siblings." She takes the next plate, drying it slowly while thinking. "But we never see how it turns out when you're grown up. That you have another person in the world that knows all your family stories, and shares the history when your parents are gone."
Linda guffawed, rinsing the sink after handing over the last plate. "Well, don't glamorize it too much. That's all true, but if most siblings are like mine and like these guys", Linda points at the still bickering checker players, "you're still stuck with a sibling, for better or worse."
Later that night, Abbey is snuggled into her bad, Brian sharing the story of Michael pulling a fish almost as big as he is - and were there not pictures, she wouldn't have believed this particular fish story. She could hear Brian talking about the catch, but her mind was still elsewhere, thinking about something else.
Finally Brian noticed her lack of attention. "Hey, Babe?"
"Wha? Yeah?"
"Where'd ya go?"
Abbey rolls over, smiles at her husband. "Have you ever considered how much more fish you could catch if Michael had a helper?"
"A helper? I'm always right there with him, and Dad keeps a clos..." Brian's attempts to calm his wife's (non-existent) worries were silenced by a soft kiss.
"No, not a helper. A helper. A little, younger, helper. Someone he could help show the ropes."
Brian grins, mischievously adding first "Well, his niece isn't old enough to go yet..." before leaning in to kiss Abbey softly. Pulling her close, he whispers "Does this mean you want ..."
Abbey smiles softly, nodding while reaching out to turn out the light.